


So it's love, is it?

by youmakemesoangry



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, prompts, these were supposed to be drabbles but they're all like full length fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-09 04:13:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmakemesoangry/pseuds/youmakemesoangry
Summary: The fics that were supposed to be drabbles but turned out a little bit longer than that





	1. "I'm gonna make you regret that."

He thinks that his favorite part of being a superhero is that he gets to work with amazing people. He has Cisco and Caitlin, of course, but he also has his family and the other heroes. 

If asked who his favorite of the heroes is, he’d say that there is no possible way he could choose. How could he? They all risk their lives to save people so they’re all his favorite.

But truthfully? 

It’s the Legends. I mean, they travel through time to save time itself. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re all pretty badass without taking themselves too seriously.

It also doesn’t hurt that his favorite villain is part of the team, either.

Barry has had to deal with a lot of _actually_ bad people since becoming the Flash so he doesn’t feel particularly guilty when he says that his morally ambiguous nemesis is his favorite member of the Legends.

He likes the guy, okay? He’s funny and snarky and so fucking _smart_. He’s ridiculous but he pulls it off so well.

So he isn’t exactly put off when they’ve been trying to find a meta that destroyed a bridge a week before and Snart shows up with Mick and Lisa in tow to offer their help. Mick looks like he’d burn the building down rather than help them, but Barry can’t really tell. He always looks like that. Lisa is draped over Cisco’s console within minutes and Barry can hear his suspicious tone from across the room.

Snart, as always, has a slight uptick to his lips like he knows something they’re all too dumb to figure out. It’s a mask, of course; one of the hundreds that the man has developed over the years. So Barry is cautious at first. He likes Snart, probably too much if he goes by what his friends have said. He isn’t stupid, though. Snart may be a hero now, but he’ll always be a thief and shifty as hell. A lifetime of being one thing makes it hard to be anything else.

He’s cautious. Until they actually go after the meta.

It’s Snart’s plan, so it’s good. It’s _really_ good, and it works. They draw the meta out and they’re fighting him and it’s all going to plan. That is until the meta starts to focus solely on Barry, putting up a stone wall between him and the others.

He can hear Cisco yelling in the comms to _get around, someone needs to get him_ but everything sounds like it’s underwater when Barry gets nailed in the head with a chunk of sidewalk. His vision swims and there are now two Mega Blocks, so named by Cisco of course. He flashes as much as he can out of the way of the incoming chunks of street but he feels like he’s going to throw up. 

He stops for a moment and takes a deep breath, trying to will the nauseous feeling away when he feels something hard hit his leg and he hears it snap. He screams and falls to his back, nausea and pain laying him out. His head pounds from the concussion and the pain.

His ears are ringing so bad that he almost doesn’t hear the sharp whir of the cold gun starting up.

“I’m going to make you regret that.” He gasps in a breath, trying to break through the pain and turns his head to look at where Snart is standing. He makes quite an intimidating figure, heavy gun held up steadily in one hand and wide stance.

Barry only takes a moment to think about how ridiculously hot Snart is before he realizes what he’s about to do.

“No, Snart,” he manages to grind out with no reaction from Snart. “Len, please.” 

He doesn’t know if it’s the please or the name that gets Snart to drop his gun, but either way, Snart points the gun at the ground without looking away from the panting meta.

He lifts his gun up again and puts walls of ice around the meta, caging him in.

Barry finally relaxes against the ground, his vision slowly blacking out. He doesn’t hear Snart walk over to him but suddenly he’s standing over Barry, mask gone and concern clearly on his face.

“Always gotta be a damsel, don’t you Flash?”

 

He wakes up a few times on the way over to STAR Labs but is always lulled back to sleep by fingers carding through his hair.

He wakes up again when Caitlin sets his leg and he has strong but careful hands holding him down.

 

When he wakes up again, the lab’s lights are turned down and when he turns his head, he sees Len resting his head on his folded arms on the bed. He’s already staring at Barry, probably awake the moment Barry was.

He opens his mouth to speak, but it’s too dry. Len sits up and reaches to hand Barry a bottled water. After he drinks a little, he closes the bottle and looks at Len who is looking around the room, always on alert and _always_ avoiding eye contact.

“Hey, Len?” He turns and meets Barry’s eyes.

“Yes, Barry?” Len matches Barry’s soft tone and he likes the way Len’s voice sounds like that.

“I’m not a damsel.” Len stares at him for a few moments before huffing out a laugh, mouth turning up in the realist smile Barry has ever seen from him.

Barry feels Len’s hand cover his and squeeze slightly and Barry smiles back at him.

Totally worth a broken leg.


	2. "I miss everything about you."

The Legends left a week ago with a reminder from Sara that they wouldn’t be back for a few months so _please try not to destroy time itself_. Which, to be fair, they really don’t have a leg to stand on.

But, whatever. He digresses.

They left the current time period only a week ago, so Barry is more than a little surprised when Leonard Snart walks into STAR Labs.

He looks up from where Caitlin is taking his blood pressure at the sound of shoes coming towards the cortex. He notices that Caitlin tenses slightly when Snart comes into the room, but she seems to force herself to relax. Cisco sits up in his chair.

“Oh, um. Hey, Cold? Legends need help already?” Snart spares a quick glance at Cisco before letting his eyes wander around the room.

“Not to my knowledge, Cisco.” Cisco looks over to Barry, eyebrows slightly scrunched together and he understands what has Cisco confused.

Barry has never heard Snart’s voice like that. It’s almost soft and he sounds familiar with Cisco. Gone is the clipped sentences and the underlying tone of disdain. Barry pulls the blood pressure cuff off and hops off the stool he’s sitting on, body tensing.

“You’re not Snart.” He walks slowly, not wanting to start a fight with _whoever_ this was but ready all the same. The man in question finally looks at Barry and his eyes soften and _this isn’t Snart_.

“I’m not _your_ Snart, Barry. Or rather,” he moves his eyes away to look around the room again, “I’m not your Snart from 2018.” Barry risks looking slightly behind him where Caitlin is and where Cisco had moved to only to see that they look as confused as him.

“You’re from the future?” Snart shrugs at Cisco’s question. “How far into the future?” Snart tucks his hands into his trench coat.

“Six years, give or take a few months.” Snart looks at Barry, looking him up and down, but it isn’t like how he normally does it. Whenever Snart, the Snart from 2018, _his_ Snart, gives him one of his patented once-overs, Barry feels like he’s being judged and is found to be both lacking and exceeding expectations. Also a little like Snart wants to know what he looks like with his clothes off but that’s something that gets locked away in the part of his brain that’s labeled ‘Complicated feelings about Leonard Snart. Do Not Touch’. 

This Snart, however, does not look at Barry like that. This Snart looks at Barry like he _knows_ him. Like he knows everything about Barry. Maybe he and Barry get closer in the next six years? Fighting people alongside one another does have that effect on people. That’d be fine, great even, except for the other thing he can see in Snart’s eyes when he looks at him.

Longing. 

Snart’s eyebrows pinch slightly like it hurts him to look at Barry directly. Snart swallows and shifts his eyes to the cortex before walking towards it. That means he’s closer to Barry now and he can see that, yes, this isn’t his Snart. He’s slightly grayer and his crow’s feet slightly more defined. Besides that, though, he still walks the same and his other mannerisms match up. Barry finally allows himself to relax.

Snart leans over to type a few things into the computer before pulling up a file and putting it up on the TVs.

“In a few years from now, this file will be deleted from any and all hard drives that it’s on.” The file is some of Cisco’s work, his looping cursive, graphs, and equations covering the pages. “In a month from now, it will be lost within your files, each page slipped into a different document.” Cisco opens his mouth but Snart points at him. “Do not, I repeat, _do not_ go looking for those pages. The fact that they’re scattered saves them from getting into the wrong hands. Don’t try to save them from getting deleted.”

Barry looks at Cisco and Caitlin and they look at him before turning to each other.

They shrug.

Snart pulls out a memory stick from his pocket and plugs it in, copying the file onto it. 

“We need this file in my time. I cannot, and will not, tell you what it’s for.” The file finishes copying and he takes the memory stick, putting it back in his pocket. He stands up straight again and turns to face them. “Any questions?”

Cisco’s hand shoots up. The look that Snart gives Cisco makes Barry’s chest tighten. There’s annoyance, clearly, but also a fondness. Like an older brother that has to keep up appearances of being annoyed by their younger sibling.

“Who is ‘we’?” Cisco drops his hand to glare at Caitlin, who ignores him. He mutters under his breath at her while Barry rolls his eyes at their antics.

“The Legends. Along with Team Flash, of course.” His mouth curls up slightly when he mentions the two teams and Barry has _so many questions_.

“How do we know that you aren’t just taking my research for nefarious deeds?” Snart sends the same look as before to Cisco again.

“If I wanted your research for nefarious deeds, Cisco, I would have stolen it. I wouldn’t have walked into the cortex where I knew all three of you would be.” Cisco shrugs but him and Caitlin both seem appeased. Snart turns his eyes to Barry, finally.

“Can I talk to you? In private?” Both Cisco and Caitlin turn with excuses to leave the room at Barry’s request, bumping into each other before walking off in the same direction. He sighs but waves a hand for Snart to follow him into one of the side rooms. He closes the door once Snart walks past him.

Snart is already leaning on one of the tables when he turns around, arms folded and facing him.

“Now, Barry. What question could you possibly have that requires privacy? I can’t tell you anythi-”

“No, I know. It’s not really...about that.” Snart raises an eyebrow, a familiar and yet different expression. Gone is the superiority that used to shine through with that expression. Now it just looks like an honest expression of surprise.

“Oh? Well, then. Ask away, Barry.” He relaxes against the table he’s leaning on. Barry, though, tenses and looks away. He crosses his arms before uncrossing them again, hating the motion for what he knows it gives away to Snart. 

“I just. Snart, the-”

“Len.” Barry’s eyes snap to meet Snart’s.

“What?” Now it’s Snart’s turn to look away.

“In the future, it’s Len. You call me Len.” His voice is softer and Barry can feel his palms starting to sweat.

“Len,” he tries. It’s...nice. It fits this future version of Snart and he likes how it makes Snart’s, _Len’s_ , shoulders relax.

Len’s mouth twitches up into a smile.

Barry likes the way it softens his face.

“Len, um.” He swallows. “What are we? In the future.” Len’s shoulders move slightly with the tension that he can see from across the room.

“Barry, I can’t-”

“Please, Len.” The tension leaves Len’s body as quickly as it came and he looks so much older with how sad he looks.

“We aren’t anything, Barry. We team up sometimes when the world’s ending. Just like we do now, in your time.” He doesn’t think that Len is lying but ‘incidental comrades’ doesn’t exactly explain the sadness he can practically feel coming off of Len.

“What _were_ we, Len?” He knows he found the right question when he sees Len close his eyes and bring his arms up in a gesture that looks an awful lot like he’s trying to hold himself together.

Len doesn’t answer for a long time, but Barry doesn’t speak up again. He lets the silence sit and waits, throat clicking when he tries to swallow with how dry it is with anxiety.

Len finally opens his eyes again they’re suspiciously ringed in red. He looks tired and so much older than just six years. He sighs and brings and hand up to rub his forehead, but he doesn’t look at Barry.

“I know that by this point in time, you know about Lewis.” The way he says his father’s name is as if the name itself makes him nauseous, and Barry doesn’t blame him. “I know that you can figure out what I was raised to do and believe.” Len is hunched in on himself and Barry sort of hates what future him has done to make Len look like this.

Len rubs his hand on his upper arm and takes a shaky breath.

“I’m sure you’ve figured out how I was trained to never rely on anyone. I never trust anyone but myself and that has saved my life more times than I can count. So I know, Barry,” he says, finally meeting Barry’s eyes, “that when I say that we were _everything_ to me, you’ll know what that means.”

He sucks in a harsh breath and finds himself incapable of letting it go. Len won’t look away now and Barry is frozen into staring back.

“Oh,” he lets out in a rush of air.

There’s silence for a while. Barry gives in and looks away, so unbelievably unbalanced by this information.

“How?” He can’t make his voice any louder than the whisper that it comes out as because he still hasn’t been able to get his breathing back to normal.

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He nods and crosses his arms. “Of course. Right.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I think any other question I have, you can’t answer.” He looks hopefully towards Len. “So what _can_ you tell me?”

Len sighs and straightens up, face determined like he’s facing a firing squad.

“I can tell you that dating me will be the biggest mistake you’ll make. I can tell you that it won’t be easy and I’ll be determined to make it as hard as possible for you. I can tell you that in the end, you finally couldn’t take it anymore. I can tell you that it was the best years of my life. That I-” he stops and bites down on his bottom lip that Barry would _swear_ is quivering. He releases his lip and takes a deep breath. “That I miss you, Barry Allen.”

Oh.

He grips his shirt, thankfully hidden by his crossed arms, in order to keep from reaching out to comfort a man that he doesn’t even know and won’t know for another six years.

“I miss the way your eyes would crinkle when you’d smile at me in the morning. I miss the way your hair is untamable after you’ve been running. I miss how you’d sometimes shock me when you’d go to reach for my hand.” His eyes are definitely red now and it’s getting harder and harder for Barry to not reach out for him. “I miss how well you understood me and how hard you tried. I miss the way you make your eggs and I miss how good you looked in my clothes. I miss the way you smell and how different you’d smell after you’d been running; sharper, like right before it snows or when a storm is coming.”

Barry doesn’t think he’s breathed for the last few minutes and he feels lightheaded but he just can’t do anything but listen.

 “I miss how you gave up pork for me and that you’d refuse to let me get away with not celebrating my birthday. God, Barry, I-” He presses his palm against his eye and his voice quivers. “I miss you”

Barry’s eyes sting and his hands hurt from how hard they’re clenched against him. He’s frozen still, even when Len pushes off of the table and walks over to him, one shaking hand reaching up to cup his cheek. Len's fingers curl behind his ear and into his hair and Barry shivers in response.

“I miss,” he says, voice so unbelievably soft, softer than he’s ever heard, “ _everything_ about you.” Barry sucks in a harsh breath, eyes locked on Len’s green ones that seem so much greener with how close he is to crying.

They stay like that for a few moments before Len pulls his hand away and clenches it before dropping it to his side, head tilted slightly away in shame.

Barry has made a lot of mistakes in his life, more so since he became the Flash. He hasn’t even made the mistake of leaving Len yet but he already regrets it more than anything else.

How could he do this Len, when Len so clearly _loves_ him. Len may not have said it but he can see it in Len’s eyes and hear it in his voice. This man loves Barry so much and at some point, Barry takes that love and throws it away.

He just doesn’t understand.

How could-

A portal opens in the cortex, sending papers flying everywhere and Barry whips around, vibrating in preparation for a fight.

Instead, he sees himself come running through and stopping on a dime.

The Flash suit is slightly different and Barry is determined to not look too hard at it. Instead, he looks at how different the future him looks. He’s slightly older, slightly broader.

He watches his future self look directly at where he and Len are standing like he knew exactly where they would be.

A moment later, the Flash is behind him and he has to turn around with super speed to keep up with him.

Len doesn’t even flinch when the Flash is suddenly next to him with a blast of wind. Instead, he has his head tilted slightly back, chin struck out in determination as if he wasn’t just staring at Barry like his heart was broken.

“You changed the future, Len.” His voice is a little deeper, Barry notices, but what he notices more is that Len’s lips tighten and tilt down at the ends like he’s trying not to start tearing up again.

“Yes, well. You didn’t have to come here yourself. The Legends are here too. You could have told them.” Len’s voice is flat. It would seem emotionless if it wasn’t for the fact that Barry had heard that same slight quiver in his voice when he was saying how much he missed Barry.

The Flash doesn’t say anything, but steps slightly closer.

“You changed the future. And now I remember.” Len sucks in a breath the same time Barry does at the Flash’s words and what they imply.

The Flash remembers this conversation now, a memory that hadn’t been there before. The Flash remembers and he’s here.

“Len.” The Flash reaches out for Len’s face, gloved hand cupping Len’s cheek.

Len’s eyes fall closed and Barry’s heart clenches.

“I miss you, too.” Len’s eyes snap open and Barry didn’t think he’d ever know what _hope_ looked like on the man.

“Barr, I-”

“I know.” They’re talking so softly that Barry can barely hear them even though he’s only a foot away from them.

Len grabs the Flash’s wrist and closes his eyes, squeezing them tight.

“I missed you so fucking much.” Len sounds like he’s close to tears and the Flash murmurs reassuringly in response. He leans closer to Len and brings his hand, the one not currently being griped like a lifeline, up to cup Len’s other cheek.

Barry decides that this is probably a good time to leave.

He walks out into the main room where Cisco and Caitlin are standing, clearly wondering what the hell was going on. He shrugs.

“Snart and I apparently had some unresolved issues.”

Cisco’s confused ‘what?’ is drowned out by the streak of lightning that rushes through the cortex and out of the lab, the wind sending papers everywhere.

He makes himself move at the same speed for a few moments, just long enough to see Len’s face tucked down into the Flash’s throat, a smile on both their faces.

He slows down again and smiles a little, but promises that if him from six years from now ever decides to come back, they’ll be having _words_.


	3. A Sorry Kiss

To say that Len is upset would be an understatement. He’s more than upset. He’s pissed. He’s furious. He’s…

He’s sad.

He’s pissed off because it’s easier than the loneliness he feels. Or so Barry says. He rolled his eyes then, thinking once again that Barry is perhaps being a bit too dramatic.

He can’t deny that Barry’s right now because he _is_ mad but below that he’s just…really sad. And disappointed. And _lonely_.

He’ll be honest. He’s never had a real relationship before. He isn’t exactly clear on what they entail and how they’re supposed to go but he’s pretty sure that they include not seeing each other for months. 

He knows he takes some of the blame for that. He was on the ship for two months straight. Though, at least Len had made the time to call Barry whenever he could, texting him even more. He had  _tried_.

He’s been home for a month now and Barry has done nothing but dodge his calls and reply with excuses to his texts. He’s never there when Len goes to his apartment.He’d think that Barry had been kidnapped if he didn’t see his lightning rushing through the city.

It goes against everything he knows but he misses Barry. He hasn’t seen Barry in three months. So he’s sad. But he’s better at being mad. So he puts on his gear and leaves his apartment, making his way to a bank.

If he can’t get an audience with Barry, maybe the Flash will deem Len worthy of his presence.

He sees the lightning before he hears the sirens and he feels a reluctant rush of pride at the response time of Team Flash. He also feels an unusual stab of anxiety, making his pulse pound harder than the heist has.

So he ices over the door right before the Flash gets to it and is a little satisfied at the loud thunk he hears.

He waits with his cold gun propped on his shoulder while the Flash goes around and phases through the wall of the bank instead of the door. The Flash stops once he’s inside, looking confusedly around at the complete lack of hostages.

As if Len was going to have an audience for this.

“Um…Cold?” Len rolls his eyes and gestures at the security cameras.

“Cameras are off and no one is here. You can drop the act.” He tries to come off as snarky but he just sounds tired. He hopes Barry doesn’t notice.

If the way his eyebrows scrunch up in concern when he pulls off his cowl, Len thinks he does.

“Len. I don’t understand. Why are you doing…this?” He gestures vaguely in a way that Len thinks is meant to convey the fact that he is in the middle of a heist and is clearly not actually going through with it.

“I don’t know, _Flash_.” Barry jerks a little at his harsh tone and Len would feel worse about that if he wasn’t so mad. “Maybe it’s because it’s the only way to get my boyfriend to see me. Or hell, to even just _talk_ to me.”

Barry’s mouth drops open in shock and looks like he’s about to say something but Len just pushes on.

“Three months, Barry. I haven’t seen you in three months. And yes, I know I was gone for two of those months but you didn’t even come to see me after you knew we were back. You stopped answering my calls and I can’t get anything from you except one sentence excuses when I text you.” He’s yelling now, anger rising to the surface the more he talks. He walks forward, jabbing a finger at Barry, and is pissed off and thankful that Barry doesn’t flinch or take a step back. He stands his ground, staring at Len with those damn beautiful eyes.

He looks away and feels the fight start to leave him. His hand drops and he feels his shoulders slump before he catches himself. He stands up straighter, shoulders pushed back and his chin tilted slightly up. He pushes away the anger and the sadness and everything else that makes him weak.

“Maybe I’m doing it because I wanted my boyfriend to come and break up with me in person.” He keeps his voice steady and low but he shocks himself with the realization that that is what has made him so sad, so pissed off. “Don’t I at least deserve that, Barry? Doesn’t an old crook deserve that level of respect?”

As hard as he tries, he can’t get those questions to come out as anything other than weary.

Damn Barry for making him soft. His life was so much easier before Barry. No one can hurt feelings that aren’t there.

Damn him.

Barry comes closer but Len still can’t meet his eyes. He sees Barry reach for him and he almost takes a step back but he can’t convince his body to move away from Barry.

“Len.” Barry’s voice is so soft, so sad, and Len wants to lean into him when his hand cups Len’s neck. He doesn’t have the power to stop the way his eyes close, however. Barry had taken off his gloves at some point and the feeling of his warm palm is _so_ good.

When he opens his eyes again, he finally looks at Barry and he looks as sad as he sounds.

“God, Len. I’m so sorry. That’s not–I’m not breaking up with you, Len.” He feels something in him relax, something that has been tightening constantly since the moment he left Barry. “I never want to break up with you Len. You’re stuck with me, okay?” He tilts his head back slightly and Barry takes it as the nod he knows it is.

“If you’re not breaking up with me, then I don’t know what the fuck made you–”

“I was planning your Valentine’s Day present.” Barry blushes, looking down and away, and Len is stunned stupid.

He…what?

“You were doing what?” He has to calculate in his head, time and dates having become so much of an abstract idea to him. Had he forgotten that it was _almost Valentine’s Day?_

 _He did_.

“I’m so so sorry, Len, but I knew if I talked to you I couldn’t keep it a secret. You know how bad I am at lying and you can read me so well that I knew you’d figure it out and I was running around getting stuff and making reservations and.” Barry takes a deep breath and lets it out in a rush. “And I’m sorry. God, you can’t imagine how sorry I am. All I could think about was trying not to spoil the surprise.”

Oh.

“So, you avoided me because you’re a shitty liar?” Barry’s other hand comes up to cup the other side of his neck.

“Exactly. God, I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. I promise. Hell,” he breaks out into a big grin that is still a little tight in the corners from worry, “I pinky promise.” The goof pulls his hand away to hold his pinky out and Len is so damn charmed by him. He lifts his hand to link pinkies with him before letting their hands drop, pinkies still looped together.

“I’ll hold you to that, Flash.” Barry’s grin loosens and he uses his grip on Len’s neck to pull their faces closer.

“A hero’s word is his bond.” Len can feel Barry’s breath on his lips as he whispers and right when he can’t take it anymore, Barry tilts slightly to press their lips together so sweetly it makes Len’s teeth ache.

God, he missed him. Barry pulls back slightly but Len pushes forward again and presses three more kisses, taking his time with each kiss.

When they do finally pull away, Len feels better than he has in months.


	4. A Reunion Kiss

They kept missing each other. It wasn’t either of their faults, really. Except that they both took jobs as heroes who save the earth.

Len likes to brag that they save all time and space, but Barry doesn’t entertain that notion. On the outside.

On the inside, he had gotten a little starstruck when Len had said that four months ago. They had been sitting around on Barry’s couch eating take-out, Barry with a fork and Len, of course, was using chopsticks perfectly. They were watching Doctor Who reruns when Len had gestured at the screen with his chopsticks.

“We do that, you know.” Barry hadn’t looked up from his lo mein but had hummed in question. “We’re protectors of _time_ and _space_ , Barry.” He had sounded so smug that Barry couldn’t help but snort, but when he looked at Len and saw the smirk twisting at the corners of his mouth, Barry paused. Len popped another piece of chicken into his mouth and never looked away from the screen but Barry was stuck staring at him. Starstruck.

His boyfriend goes out on a time ship, one that Barry is _convinced_ is absolutely bigger on the inside. Len always disagrees, vehemently and with a tone that says, with intimate knowledge, that it is _absolutely_ not bigger on the inside.

His boyfriend travels through time, fixing it and saving an infinite number of people. He protects time and space and _everyone_.

His boyfriend is a _hero_.

Barry had leaned over and kissed Len, the taste of Chinese take-out making it salty and sweet. Len had hummed in pleasure before turning back to the episode but Barry couldn’t concentrate anymore, so unbelievably proud of and in love with this man.

That’s a hard feeling to hold onto when he hasn’t seen Len for more than a few hours every other week since then. Even those hours, though, were only because their teams needed to work together.

But like he said, it isn’t really either of their faults. They’re very busy people and let’s be real; bad guys and disasters don’t really care about scheduling. Like, for example, right now. Barry is in Star City after helping Oliver. He’s saying goodbye to Felicity and feels the same rush of excitement he always gets when he’s about to go home. That drains away when he remembers that Len was still away on the Legends’ recent trip. He takes a deep breath and wills the disappointment away before running back to Central.

He stops at the Labs to drop off his suit and talk with Cisco but can feel the fatigue dragging at him. Cisco seems to notice and shoos him away, telling him to crash and that he’ll try not to call Barry in for anything less than a hostage situation. Barry thanks him and, grabbing a calorie bar on the way, runs back to his apartment. 

He unlocks his door and feels himself start to relax immediately. He closes his eyes and lets shoulders slump a little before moving to toe off his shoes and fling them into their spot by the door.

They hit a pair of boots on their way.

Barry is staring at the boots and can feel his heart start to pound.

“You gonna stand there all day?” He turns around slowly and his heart starts to slow down, soothed by Len’s familiar drawl, the soft one he saves just for Barry.

“How long?” He’s moving, long strides taking him across his apartment to where Len is standing in the living room in moments.

“A week.” Barry gets his hands on Len’s hips and _god_ he’s missed the feel of him. Len brings a hand to cup around the side of Barry’s neck and Barry doesn’t feel so tired anymore.

“A whole week?” Len nods.

“A whole week. I threatened Sara with mutiny if we didn’t get a few days off the ship.” Barry smiles, picturing Sara’s unimpressed look before she probably just sighed, waved her hand and said _whatever, Leonard_.

Barry doesn’t say anything and just lets the moment of silence linger between them, the quiet of the apartment not bothering him because _Len is here_. Len’s eyes are flickering around Barry’s face and he feels so warmed to know that Len is trying to take Barry in because he missed Barry as much as Barry missed him.

“I missed you,” he whispers, not wanting to break the quiet. He sees Len relax as if he wasn’t sure if Barry did. Barry tugs Len closer so their bodies are completely pressed together.

“I missed you, too.” Len’s voice is just as quiet, so low and delicate that Barry can’t help but close the space between them and press a kiss to Len’s lips. Len presses a few back but it isn’t enough.

Barry brings one of his hands up to cup Len’s jaw to hold him place so he could kiss Len good and proper. Len’s mouth opens with a groan as he pushes back, and when their tongues drag against each other Barry can feel Len’s grip on the side of his neck tighten and pull as Len tries to get him as close as possible.

When Barry finally pulls away, Len is flushed high on his cheekbones and he looks more relaxed than Barry has seen him in months, for what little time he had seen Len.

He drops his hand from Len’s face to put it back on Len’s hip before dropping his head onto Len’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of Len, the scent of _home_. Len brings his arms to wrap around Barry’s shoulders, holding him and tilting his head to the side to rest it lightly against Barry’s.

 _This_ , he thinks. _This is good._


	5. You fainted...straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes

It had been a…rough couple of days.

Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement.

It had been a horrible, _shitty_ couple of days.

Most of the time, accidents and disasters were pretty spread out. The city wasn’t going to hell in a hand basket every day or something.

But sometimes.

Sometimes it really seems like Central City was built on _Hellmouth_.

“Let’s be honest. It’s not that unlikely. This city has everything short of demons in it and we’re not that far from Cleveland.” He can practically see Caitlin’s shrug through the comms and he can’t help but smile as he runs vertically up a building to deal with a hostage situation on one of the floors.

“ _From beneath you, it devours_.” Cisco’s voice drops into a low register, an imitation of an old horror movie narrator.

“Yeah, thanks Giles. How many on the floor?” He phases through one of the windows into a, thankfully, empty office. He closes his eyes briefly and tries to will the dizziness away. He finished his last calorie brick two fires and a robbery ago so he’s just trying to hold out until there’s a little lull in the insane amount of criminal activity.

“Looks like ten, not including the gunman. From where you are he is…” There’s the sound of clicking keys. “He’s in the far left corner. If you phase through the three offices to your left, you can come at him from the side. He won’t see you coming.” He nods even though he knows Cisco can’t see him and jumps a few times in place and shakes out his arms and legs, hoping to relieve a little of the pain in them from being overworked.

He takes a deep breath and turns slightly on his heel and runs straight through walls one and two before the dizziness catches up to him again and he slams into wall three. 

He can hear Cisco and Caitlin yelling in his comms but the blood rushing in his ears is too loud. He takes a deep breath, knowing that the gunman definitely heard that, and runs right out of the office into the main room just as the gun goes off.

He races to grab the bullet out of the air and then disarms the man and flash the man down to the waiting police officers outside.

He heaves a few breaths once he’s down the street in an alley, far enough away from prying cop eyes.

His blood is rushing in his ears and he can feel himself breaking out into cold sweats.

“Anything else, guys?” _Please say no, please say no._

“Not right now.” He huffs a relieved sigh and leans back against the alley wall.

“Oh thank god. Okay, I’m going to stop for some Big Belly Burger before heading back. Have some of those bricks waiting for me?” He hears Cisco respond in the positive before clicking off his comms and closes his eyes, letting his head tilt back.

“Well, well, well.” His eyes fly open and he pushes away from the wall only to lean back against it when he sees who it is.

“Hey, Snart.” His voice sounds tired even to him, but he hopes Snart doesn’t notice. “Can you like, not commit whatever crime you’re about to commit? I don’t want to get a call to come to whatever jewelry store you’re robbing.” Snart is leaning his shoulder against the opposite wall and brings a hand up to his chest in a gesture that makes him look like maiden clutching her pearls. He’s ridiculous and Barry probably should leave before he does something stupid. Like laugh at Snart’s dramatics and encourage him further.

“I am _insulted_ , Barry.” Barry raises an eyebrow at him. “As if I’d be amateur enough to set off an alarm.” Barry rolls his eyes. Of course.

“Whatever. Can it wait? It’s like the full moon or something. Every crime that can be committed has been and I’m _exhausted_ and I need to eat.” He pushes away from the wall again and heads towards the mouth of the alley.

Snart makes a humming noise behind him, a sound that manages to be both intrigued and smug. Barry sighs but doesn’t stop walking away.

“What?” He hears Snart push off the wall as well and start walking up behind him.

“It’s just interesting.” Barry rolls his eyes again. “Didn’t know Speedsters got hangry.” When Snart catches up to him, Barry turns to glare at him.

“Shut the fuck up, Snart.” Snart tilts his head back with a slightly smug smirk on his dumb, gorgeous lips.

Dammit, he needed food.

Barry sped up his pace a little.

“Try not to set off any alarms, okay?” Snart hums again.

“Any alarm that gets that tight ass to show up in leather is worth setting off.” Barry whips around, which turns out to be a phenomenally bad idea.

His vision starts to tunnel and the blood starts to pound in his ears again, so loud that he can’t hear the panicked way Snart says his name as he starts to tilt to forward. He does see the way Snart’s face turns from his normal, smug grin to blatant concern.

The world moves around him and the last thing he sees before the world goes black is Snart’s hands reaching out to him.

 

He wakes up slowly, so slowly.

His nose seems to be the first part of him to come online as he smells amazingly greasy food, which is what probably woke him up.

Next, his hearing comes back and he hears someone walking and the slight banging of pots and pans.

He opens his eyes and he doesn’t recognize the ceiling.

The lights are dimmed and he doesn’t have lights that dim.

“Oh good. Sleeping beauty awakens.” He jerks slightly in surprise and turns his head to see Snart in the kitchen, hands braced widely on the island. 

“What?” His voice sounds like shit. What the fuck is happening?

“Drink, Barry.” What? Snart looks pointedly at the coffee table in front of the couch he’s on and, oh. Water!

On a coaster.

Snart uses coasters.

He doesn’t know what to do with this information but he thinks it’s important.

He sits up, slowly, and shifts his legs until his feet hit the ground and reaches to take the ice cold bottled water. He pauses for a second, the coolness feeling amazing against his hand.

“It’s not poisoned or anything.” Barry looks away from the bottle up to Snart just as he ducks his head and turns back to whatever he was doing before.

“What?” He looks back down and puts it together.

A bottle of water.

Snart gave him a bottle, clearly unopened, instead of a glass.

To sure Barry felt safe enough to drink it.

He feels like this is important, too.

“Oh, no. I didn’t think you did. It just,” he cracks open the bottle, “the cold felt really good to hold.” As he drinks, he watches Snart and the way his shoulders relax at that before he snorts, a few seconds late.

“I’ll remind you of that the next time I nail you with the gun.” Barry lowers the bottle before he laughs. He closes the bottle and notices that he drank more than half of it. He sets it back down on the coaster.

He taps his fingers on his knees while he watches Snart’s back as he moves around the kitchen.

“So, um. What happened?” Snart looks back at him, eyebrows slightly furrowed before turning back around.

Snart walks around the island, four plates of food balanced expertly in his hands and on his arms. He walks over to the coffee table and puts the plates down one by one.

They’re covered in burgers and fries and are those hash browns?

“Well,” Snart sits down at the far end of the couch, tucked into the corner with one leg up and bent. “You were bitching about being tired and hungry.”

Oh, right. As Snart says it, it feels like an empty cavern opens up in his stomach. He’s so hungry. He doesn’t look away from the amazing spread but doesn’t move, waiting politely for Snart to continue.

“Then you fainted.” Barry feels his eyes widen as he finally turns his head away to look at Snart. “You fainted straight into my arms.”

Oh my god. This is horrible. With Snart’s smarmy ass voice and the image of Snart carrying him back to…wherever this is is just too much.

“You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.” Barry can feel his face heat up violently. He drops his burning face into his hands and hears Snart laugh softly.

“My blood sugar.” His voice is muffled but thankfully Snart seems to speak humiliated speedster.

“I gathered. So what’s a superhero’s villain to do but slave over a hot stove and make him delicious, fatty food.” There’s something in Snart’s voice that makes Barry lift his head, but when Barry looks at him, Snart is doggedly looking away. 

This feels…really important.

Barry looks back to look at the food as the silence sits heavily in the air.

“You could have just gotten Big Belly Burger instead, you know.” Snart makes the most offended noise Barry thinks he’s ever heard anyone make as he reaches for the first burger.

“That shit isn’t _food_ , Barry.” Barry rolls his eyes before speeding through eating all of the food on the plates.

God, it’s so delicious. So greasy and amazing and he guesses he shouldn’t be surprised that Snart knows how to cook.

When he’s done, he flops back on the couch, just barely full but perfectly content.

“Disgusting.” Snart’s deadpan voice makes Barry snort and roll his head to the side to look at Snart.

Who is watching Barry like he’s the most interesting things he’s ever seen. Barry can start to feel his face burn again under the attention.

“Tripolymer blend,” he blurts out. Snart raises an eyebrow in question. “My suit.”

The eyebrow doesn’t go down.

“It’s not made of leather.”

Snart’s expression shifts to shocked understanding and if Barry didn’t know any better he’d think the man was blushing.

“Ah yes. About that…” Barry raises an eyebrow, waiting for Snart to continue. After a few moments, Barry takes mercy on him.

“How about,” he puts a hand down on the couch and leans into Snart’s space, thrilled when he doesn’t move away, “next time you want to see my ‘tight ass’, you just call me? No criminal activity need.” He pushes in those last few inches, his heartbeat ratcheting up as Snart leans in and presses their lips together. He gives gives Snart’s lower lip a nip before flashing away, grabbing Snart’s phone and programming his number into it.

He flashes over to the door and turns to smirk.

“Thanks for the food, Snart.”

Before he phases through the door he hears Snart speak.

“Call me Len.”

He smiles.

That, too, feels important.


	6. Wait a minute. Are you jealous?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> have some Heatflash

It starts off at Saints & Sinners.

Which isn’t really all that surprising when Barry thinks about it.

Which he doesn’t. At first.

 

The Labs get a message from Sara letting them know that the Legends will be in town for a few days. That’s followed up by text from Mick that is just the name of the bar and a time. Barry grins and sends fifteen different emojis in response because he knows Mick thinks it’s cute and loves it, despite his protests.

He tells Cisco and Caitlin, and Cisco says he got a text from Ray saying the same thing and Barry gets even more excited knowing that it’s going to be a night out with the whole crew.

Don’t get him wrong, he loves spending time with his boyfriend.

But seeing the Legends’ barely controlled chaos is one of his favorite things, to be completely honest, and he loves seeing the way Mick teases and is teased back by them.

So he puts on the jeans that he knows Mick loves him in and a plain, dark blue t-shirt, thankful for the unusually warm weather.

He doesn’t want to fuck up his hair or his shoes so he rides with Caitlin and Cisco. By the time they push through the bar doors, Barry is nearly twitching in excitement. The Legends have been gone for around a month (thirty-six days and twelve hours, to be exact, but who’s counting) so seeing the happy twitch of Mick’s mouth when he sees Barry walk in almost makes Barry forget where they are and flash over to him.

Instead, he walks over at a very normal, human pace and flings himself into Mick’s arms. His eyes close when he feels Mick’s arms wrap around him, holding him tightly. He breathes in, smells the familiar scent of accelerant mixed with a little hint of gun oil.

“Hey, sweet cheeks.” Barry laughs at the name, happy to hear that deep, raspy, teasing tone in real life.

“Missed you,” he murmurs, tucking his face into Mick’s neck briefly before pulling back just enough so he can kiss Mick gently, getting a few nips in response to the soft treatment, making him laugh again.

Mick hums and stares into his eyes, his mouth twitching slightly at the corners.

“Missed you, too, honey bunches.” Barry rolls his eyes and pulls completely out of Mick’s arms, amused and happy to have his boyfriend back again.

“Way to ruin the moment, asshole.” Mick grabs his hand before he can get too far away.

“It’s why you keep me around.”

“Hey! Lovebirds!” Barry turns around, not dropping Mick’s hand, and heads over to the rest of the Legends, waving at Sara.

“We’re coming, we’re coming.” When they get over to the table, Barry introduces himself to the new members as he sees Caitlin and Cisco go up to the bar to wait for their drinks.

“You must be Nate! I’ve heard so much about you!” He shakes Nate’s hand while Mick insists that his name isn’t Nate, it’s ‘Pretty’. Barry rolls his eyes and he’s happy to see that Nate does too, just as good-naturedly.

“And that’s Amaya and Z.” Mick points to each of the women respectively and feels a rush of happiness at the obvious respect he has for these two women.

“Zari, Mick. I know you must talk about me all the time to Barry but he should probably know my name.” Mick rolls his eyes at the friendly ribbing and Barry smiles.

“It’s awesome to meet you guys. I gotta say,” he looks back and smiles at Mick who ducks his head a little to hide his smile, “I get a little jealous of the stuff you guys get into. Grateful Dead concerts? Becoming an actual pirate legend? Meeting and saving Helen of Troy?” He feels Mick’s hand tighten around his, knowing that Mick still feels bad after telling Barry about what happened with the Helen of Troy mission, so he squeezes reassuringly back.

Barry doesn’t blame Mick, but Barry has learned that Mick is his own worst enemy so Barry does his best to assure Mick that, for most things, he isn’t mad at all.

“You should totally come on board sometime. I’m sure Mick would love to show you around the  Dirty 60s or whatever.” Zari takes a sip from her beer as Ray leans over and informs her that it’s actually the _sexy_ 60s, which gets him the most unimpressed look Barry has ever seen.

“I’d love to, but I can’t.” He shrugs and smiles, leaning into Mick’s side. The three newest members look between Mick and him in confusion while Ray and Sara nod in understanding.

“I’m sorry, why? Because like, Zari stole Helen of Troy and brought her to Themyscira so I don’t know how much worse you could make history.” Zari punches Nate in the shoulder.

“Asshole! She went missing, so _clearly_ I was always meant to take her away from all the stupid men who wouldn’t leave her alone.”

“Hey, I resent that.” Sara clears her throat before their bickering could continue.

“Actually, it’s basically that I could unravel the entire fabric of time.”

They sit in silence for a few seconds.

“I don’t think I understand.” Amaya’s voice is gentle and she looks at Mick to help explain. Barry looks back in question at Mick, who shrugs. He looks back at the Legends and waves a little awkwardly.

“Hi, guys. Nice to meet you. I’m the Flash.”

Mick’s laughter is loud and happy in his ear at the looks on their faces. Their mouths open and close a few times.

“Oh my god,” Zari says softly. Nate points at him in silence and Barry starts to laugh a little, too, as Mick leans his head on Barry’s shoulder for balance as he laughs harder.

“What am I missing?” Amaya says quietly to Sara.

“Um…” Sara stalls, clearly trying to come up with a way to explain.

“He’s the original speedster.” Barry opens his mouth to argue with Nate about that but decides that discussions of multiple earths could wait.

“He’s the hero of Central City. Everyone from my time knows him. You’re like, the fairytale parents tell their children to show them that meta-humans aren’t _bad_.” Zari’s voice is soft in wonder and Barry can feel his face start to burn and he brings his hand to rub the back of his neck. He looks at Mick who is beaming at him, cheeks flushed with the laughter and eyes bright with pride.

“You…probably shouldn’t tell him too much about the future, Zari.” Ray looks apologetic when Zari glares at him a little.

“Ray’s right. Unfortunately, I’m…” He looks to Mick when he finds it hard to describe his precarious position with time.

“He sneezes weird and you could never have been born.” He slaps the back of his hand against Mick’s chest.

“God, Mick. Stop being so dramatic.” Mick huffs and rolls his eyes back.

“I’m sorry, it’s just. Wow.” Zari still looks a little starstruck. “Wow. Is it true that you took out Zoom and traveled to another dimension?” Barry laughs a little.

“Oh yeah. Zoom was from what we call Earth-2 and so we had to get help from his earth and stuff like that.” Barry shrugs while Zari leans her elbows on the table.

“Can you actually time travel?” Barry nods enthusiastically, loving talking about how cool his powers can be. He, along with his family and friends, sometimes get jaded, so it’s great to get reminded that his powers are actually pretty _awesome_.

“Yeah! So, I run so fast that I punch a hole through the fabric of time. I don’t do it anymore because it’s like, _super_ not good, but yeah.” He bounces a little on his toes and turns to Nate when it looks like he’s about to ask a question.

Before Nate can get a word out, Barry feels Mick’s arm wrap around his waist and he relaxes into it. He tilts his head slightly when he feels Mick’s hot breath against his neck and he shivers.

“Let’s get out of here, hm?” Mick’s voice is a rough whisper. Barry bites his lip and nods, looking at Mick out of the corner his eye. Barry takes a deep breath to compose himself a little.

“I’m sorry, guys. We’re gonna head out. I’ll see you guys again before you all leave, so I’ll be happy to answer anything other questions you guys have!” He waves goodbye and practically drags Mick out of the bar and into the alleyway.

Before he can flash them away, Mick pins him to the outside wall and kisses him fiercely. Barry groans immediately and grabs the sides of Mick’s jacket to pull him closer. He’s panting by the time Mick pulls away and trails biting kisses down to his neck. Mick bites down on his pulse point and sucks, making Barry’s hip thrust forward reflexively.

“God, Mick,” he gasps, tilting his head back to give Mick more room. “We gotta—we gotta get home,” Mick growls a little and Barry whimpers.

God, he’s missed this.

Mick finally pulls away, his eyes locked on what must be an extremely impressive hickey. 

Barry swallows before telling Mick to brace himself before he flashes them back to Barry’s apartment.

 

So what if, when Mick fucks Barry long and hard that night, he keeps repeating that Barry is his, his, his?

It’s just really hot.

 

Barry still doesn’t notice it the next time it happens.

Caitlin is taking his blood pressure after she had him run.

Mick had watched, sitting next to Cisco at the consoles and attempting to steal the entirety of Cisco’s candy stash. It was nice, watching Mick annoy Cisco and see Cisco gently slap at Mick’s arm in a not-at-all-serious way.

He finishes his run and takes off his sweatshirt so Caitlin can get an accurate reading of both his blood pressure and heart from the nodes she had put on his chest earlier. He gets a wolf whistle from Cisco and he just shakes his head before sitting on the edge of one of the beds.

“Okay, you’re blood pressure looks normal. Well, for you.” She tucks away her stethoscope once she’s done. She turns away to check the monitor for his E.K.G. results. “And your heart rate is perfect. Not that there was any doubt that everything about you is perfect, Mister Hero.” Barry laughs, happy that Caitlin is in one of her better moods and joking around.

He hears Mick growl from the other side of the room and he feels a shiver race down his spine and, embarrassingly, his heart rate on the machine goes up. His eyes snap to where Mick is marching his way over to the bed and Barry can feel the heat starting to burn in his stomach from the way Mick is looking at him.

“He good to go, Doc?” His voice is rough as he reaches to drag his fingers through Barry’s slightly sweaty hear, tugging a little.

“Oh! Um, sure.” She quickly takes off the nodes on his chest and Mick is handing him a hoodie.

 

Mick blows Barry in the back seat of the car before they even leave the parking lot.

 

Barry notices it a little the third time when, while saying goodbye to the Legends, Ray gives him a big hug and Mick growls.

“Hands off, Palmer.”

Ray quickly lets go, backs away, and settles for beaming at him and waving goodbye.

Barry has never heard Mick call Ray any name other than his nickname.

And then Mick is pressing biting kisses against his lips. When Barry opens his mouth to groan, Mick slides his tongue along Barry’s in a scorching hot slide.

The Legends haven’t even made it onto the ship yet.

When Mick pulls away, Barry’s lips feel hot and swollen and he’s a little dazed.

They pant into the small amount of air between them before Barry whispers goodbye.

Mick squeezes the back of Barry’s neck.

“I’ll be back soon,” he says, before he turns and walks back onto the ship, turning back to swipe the control panel and to wave goodbye.

 

He would have to be blind to not notice it the fourth time.

He’s out shopping with Iris when he gets a notification from the ‘Coolest Superheroes Ever’ group chat that Ray insisted on.

“Oh, hey! The Legends are back in our time. You wanna go catch up with them? I’ll introduce you to Amaya and Zari, you’re going to love them.” Iris grins and once they’ve dropped their bags off at their apartments, Barry flashes them to STAR Labs.

They burst into the cortex in a whirlwind of papers. He makes sure Iris is settled and steady on her feet before putting his hand between her shoulder blades and leading her to where the Legends are, more or less, gathered. 

Ray, of course, is already in one of the side labs with Cisco and Barry can hear their excited voices. Zari is sitting on the main console with Amaya sitting next to her while they talk with Caitlin.

Sara and Mick are standing slightly off to the side in matching, cross-armed and bored, stances while Nate seems to me regaining them with some ‘historian nerd shit’, as Mick calls it.

Barry smiles when he gets close and waves.

“Hey, guys! This is Iris. Iris, this is Zari, Amaya, and Nate.” He gestures to each Legend respectively with the hand not on Iris’ back. The Legends reply with an equal amount of kindness but differing levels of enthusiasm.

Nate breaks away from Sara and Mick and heads over to them, hand outstretched for a handshake.

“So you are _the_ Iris West.” Iris smiles and nods. Confidant that Iris will be comfortable alone, he heads over to Mick. His grin starts to dim when Mick’s face doesn’t change from his mask of indifference. He doesn’t try to hug Mick, knowing better than to force physical affection when Mick is clearly not in the mood.

“Hey, Sara.” Sara nods in greeting, smile turning her lips up. She peaks behind him and walks away, clearly about to get reacquainted with Iris.

Now it’s just him and Mick and Barry can feel his nervous energy build up. He steps slightly closer, still not touching Mick but making sure their conversation private.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Did something happen with the team?” Mick’s eyes flick briefly to his team members behind Barry before coming back.

“Nah, they’re fine.” His voice is rougher than usual.

“Okay? So what’s bothering you then?” Mick takes a deep breath before physically forcing himself to relax, clearly trying to make it seem like Mick isn’t about three seconds from snapping.

“Nothings wrong, Red.” Barry squints his eyes, a little suspicious that there is something clearly wrong and it’s something that Mick doesn’t want to tell Barry, which is…rare. Mick is honest and loves to tell Barry about his time on the ship. He’s also, within the last few months, gotten into the habit of actually letting Barry in. He’s talked Mick down from more than one anxiety attack before they could turn into full-blown panic and before Mick could hurt himself.

“I don’t want to push, Mick, but something is clearly wrong and I would like to help you with it.” He keeps his voice soft but firm, not really wanting his boyfriend to keep whatever it is that’s bothering him locked up inside.

“Where were you two?” The question takes him off guard.

“I’m sorry?”

“You and Iris. Where were you two?” Barry looks behind him briefly to see Iris laughing at something Zari said.

“We were shopping. Why?” Mick doesn’t respond but just looks at a spot over Barry’s right shoulder.

Barry frowns and tries to think about why Mick would want to know where he and Iris were.

Oh.

And then it all makes sense.

“Wait a minute.” Mick finally looks at him, eyes widening slightly at Barry’s tone and look. “Are you jealous?”

And Mick’s face does an interesting thing.

It turns sad.

Mick ducks his head and uncrosses his arms to shove his hands into his coat pockets.

“Seriously, Mick?” Mick doesn’t look up when he shrugs a mumbles something. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You love her.” Barry's head jerks a little in surprise.

“Well, yeah of course I do. She’s my best friend.” Mick lifts his head but won’t meet Barry’s eyes.

“No. You’re _in_ love with her.” Barry is…very confused.

“I mean, I was at one point. I’ll always love her, but I’m not in love with her. I haven’t been for awhile.” Mick’s shoulders are tight and he huffs a little, mouth turned down at the edges.

“You don’t notice it, do you?” At Barry’s silence, Mick takes a deep breath. “You attract people. People love to be around you. And you’re surrounded by heroes all the time, good people just like you.” Mick mumbles the last part but Barry still catches it and it…

It hurts. To be honest. It hurts to hear Mick talk like this when Barry can tell that he doesn’t count himself as one of those ‘good’ people.

“Mick, I—“

“It’s hard, seeing you around all these people that would be so much better for you.” Barry flinches like he’s been slapped.

“Mick, you are _not_ breaking up with me right now.” Mick swallows and shuffles his feet a little and Barry can hear the creak of his leather gloves as he clenches his fists. Mick lets out a harsh breath.

“You’re a damn open book with your feelings. You can’t go two minutes without telling someone how you feel and you never tell me.” Mick finally looks at him. “We’ve been together for almost a year and you haven’t said one word on how you feel about me since we got together.”

Barry feels his chest loosen and he can’t help the laugh the escapes him. He laughs harder the longer he thinks about this, all of this.

Oh my god.

Mick doesn’t think Barry likes him.

He’s still laughing when he sees Mick takes his hands out of his pockets and curl them into fists, his face returning to its hard mask as he moves to make his way past Barry.

“No, no, no.” Barry giggles and cups the side of Mick’s head before he could move too far away. “Oh my god, I’m sorry.” He takes a few sobering breaths while Mick glares at him.

“I’m not the biggest fan of being laughed at, Barry.” He’s tense but he still moves when Barry urges him back to his previous spot.

“I’m not laughing at you, I promise. I’m laughing at _us_.” Barry rubs his face and feels slightly hysterical.

“Explain, Allen.” Last names, okay. Wow. Barry is in trouble. Barry takes a deep breath and raises his other hand to frame Mick’s face.

“Mick, I haven’t said anything about my feelings for you because I know that kind of shit makes you uncomfortable.” Mick’s eyes get shifty as he looks away and shrugs. “I realized that very early on, so I’ve just always figured you’d be okay with me showing, you physically, how much I care about you.”

The room is dead quiet behind him and he doesn’t know if that’s from the Legends quieting down or if they just left the room.

“Clearly, I was wrong. So now I’m going to say how I feel about you.”

Mick looks at him, eyes hopeful and it breaks Barry’s heart a little bit.

“I love you, Mick Rory.” Mick startles so bad he almost pulls out of Barry’s hands. “I love you so much that it hurts sometimes. I love you so much that I sleep with that stuffed fireman bear that you hate every time you’re not in my bed. I love you so much that it makes our friends sick with how much I talk about you and how much I love you. I love you so much, Mick, that Caitlin said.” His throat tightens and he squeezes Mick’s face slightly. He takes a deep breath before continuing. “Caitlin said that it hurt to look at us together sometimes because we remind her of her and Ronnie.” 

Mick let’s out a harsh breath and closes his eyes.

“I love you so much that I went the entire seven months since figuring out that I love you not telling you because I knew how uncomfortable it made you.” Mick doesn’t open his eyes as for a few moments. When he does, Barry doesn’t mention that they’re a little red-ringed.

“Oh.” Barry snorts.

“Yeah, oh.” He lets go of Mick’s face and doesn’t try for a kiss, knowing that Mick probably still doesn’t what that physicality right now. He takes a step back and sees that the silence was because the room was, in fact, empty behind him. “So? We good?” Mick smiles and ducks his head a little.

“Yeah, we’re good.”

“Okay. Awesome. Perfect. Hey?” Mick looks up. “I love you.” Mick rolls his eyes and walks away and Barry slides into step with him.

“Don’t push it, buttercup.”

“You opened this love box, Mick. You don’t get to close it.” Mick rolls his eyes and grunts, elbowing Barry gently.

“Oh goody.”

And Mick has never been very good at hiding his smiles.


End file.
